#Joe Biden will chose ‘woman of color’ as running mate by August

Joe Biden said Tuesday he had prepared a list of “women of color” for consideration to be his running mate in November — but that he wouldn’t announce a decision until August.

“There are a number of women of color. There are Latino women. There are Asian. There are — across the board. And we’re just under way now in the hard vet of going into the deep background checks that take anywhere from six to eight weeks to be done,” Biden said during a campaign speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

Asked if he were still shooting to name a pick by the beginning of August, the former veep said it might take longer than that.

“Early August. I can’t guarantee you August 1, but it will be in early August, before — several weeks before the convention,” he said.

The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said again that his main criteria would be to choose someone who would be ready to assume the presidency immediately should that become necessary.

Biden said the decision would also be made based on what skills and experience the candidates brought to the ticket.

President Barack Obama chose him, he said, because of his years of experience in Congress as a representative and then as a senator as well as his foreign policy chops.

“He had clear views of what, in fact, he wanted to do and what his strategy was in terms of America’s role in the world. He was looking for someone who had day-to-day experience and knew a lot of those world leaders,” he continued.

“And so it is almost all of the women I’m considering have had some exposure to foreign policy and national defense issues, security issues, but that is not a minimum requirement. A requirement is that they have the intellectual capacity as well as the temperament, as well as their leadership qualities that lend everyone to believe that they would be ready on day one to be president of the United States of America.”

Biden reportedly is considering a number of women of color, including California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is of South Asian descent, as well as former national security adviser Susan Rice and Reps. Karen Bass of California and Val Demings of Florida, all of whom are African Americans, among others.